To expand their service offerings and revenue base, telephone companies and cable television operators (collectively, "carriers") are planning new broadband networks to provide interactive multimedia services which cannot be provided by existing communications networks. A number of carriers have announced plans to make significant capital investments to construct "full service" networks to support applications such as video-on-demand, Internet access, and interactive home shopping.
End-user demand for a greater number of services will produce fundamental changes in switched carrier networks. The existing traditional network architecture emphasizes the central office switch. A need exists for a network architecture where switching and transmission functions are integrated, i.e., a distributed switched network. The need is driven by end-user demand for high performance, interactive application support; the deployment of powerful application oriented end-user equipment; the availability of relatively inexpensive distributed technology; the need to respond quickly and flexibly to a dynamic application and technical environment; and the resulting pressure to correlate capital investment with user demand. The results foreseen are cost-effective, adaptable and powerful networks which better meet end-user needs.